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S&P Lowers U.S. Car Sales Forecast
Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings now predicts full-year car sales in the U.S. will reach 17.5 million units this year, down from its previous forecast for 17.8 million passenger vehicles.
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Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings now predicts full-year car sales in the U.S. will reach 17.5 million units this year, down from its previous forecast for 17.8 million passenger vehicles. Last year’s U.S. auto market grew 6% to a record 17.47 million units.
S&P attributes its downward revision to softening used-car prices, which drag down demand for new cars, and a U.S. economy the ratings agency now expects to expand only 2%, down from its earlier estimate of 2.3%. S&P says the economy also will be negatively affected by the U.K. decision to exit the European Union.
S&P doesn’t expect U.S. car sales to shrink. But it predicts the growth rate will slow through the remainder of 2016 and into 2017. Last month car sales in the U.S. slowed to an annualized pace of 16.7 million units from 17.5 million in May, according to Autodata Corp.
Some analysts have cautioned that the U.S. auto market could stall this year and begin a slow contraction that continues for two or three years.
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